Seoul, Korea - July, 2012

It’s a long way from Jakarta to Seoul but we stopped off here for 5 days before going home to Vancouver.  We took a 2 hour city bus tour of Seoul since it was a bargain and initially I struggled with any sightseeing since Gilbert, being the sharing person that he is, gave me another 48 virus (only a bad sore throat and headache for our 1^st two days).  It turned out to be a great idea as it gave us an overview of the city.  We discovered that in many respects it is quite like Shanghai, only more civilized (as in the traffic follows the rules of the road), the sidewalks and buildings are in better condition (unlike China where everything begins to fall apart after 3 years), streets are lit up at night with people everywhere (like Nanjing Lu) but it is much, much cleaner (the Koreans do not litter).  In fact, the main palace that we visited, Gyeongbokgung, is like a mini version of The Forbidden City in Beijing – including lay of the land and building structure and decoration.  One difference - Seoul is a thriving café and donut culture, with coffee shops, ‘Dunkin Donuts’ and French pastry shops everywhere.

ACCOMODATION

I booked us a room at what I thought was a traditional Korean guesthouse, having read that staying in one can be a unique and memorable experience.  Rooms are built around a central courtyard and I was careful to choose one that had good reviews.  We lasted all of one night in the place – the room with private bath was teeny, ok miniscule, the atmosphere unappealing, the mattress, what mattress? -we may as well had been sleeping on the floor it was so thin, the breakfast mediocre and the price – a real gouger on the tourist pocketbook.  To make matters worse, the proprietor sent us on what seemed a wild goose chase trying to find a restaurant he recommended for dinner.  We never did find the place and discovered the next day he sent us in the opposite direction of where the restaurant district was.  We can only guess he was sending us to a friend’s place.

We agreed we couldn’t stay in that guesthouse another night but I was too sick to help look for another place to stay so left that up to Gilbert to take care of.

This is actually where the ‘unique and memorable’ experience comes in.  Gilbert finds us a room at a hotel at an excellent price.  He had asked to see the room in advance to make sure it was ok but they would only show him pictures of the rooms and he could choose from that.  The pictures looked fine and the hotel was quite new so he booked us in for one night only, exercising a ‘buyer beware’ caution especially since they wanted cash in advance.  The ‘bad news’? – we couldn’t check in until 8pm but the ‘good news’ - they would store our bags for us during the day.

So we check out of the guesthouse and take our bags over and right away when I saw the name of the hotel - ‘Hotel 2 Heaven’ I knew – we are staying in a Love Hotel.  They are common in Korea and Japan and often cater to ‘pay by the hour’ couples as well as a handful of conventional overnight guests.

Gilbert had opted for the standard room with the title ‘ The Red Chair‘, a really nice, clean and not over the top choice.  As you can imagine, it has absolutely everything to make one’s stay comfortable, especially if you happen to be a spur of the moment, short term visitor.  He could have chosen a suite that had a pool table or a choice of a deluxe room with names and appropriate decorations such as ‘The Street’, ‘Irish Coffee’, ‘Blue City’ and ‘Che Guevara.  Not thinking we would actually stay more than one night in a Love Hotel, we thought we would look for another place to stay the following day.  However, after our first night in ‘Heaven’ we decided to make it our ‘home’ as I was still too sick to look into anything else, Gilbert didn’t feel like moving a third time, the location is great and the walls seem to be sound proof – we didn’t hear another single noise.  We only had one incident at ‘knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door’ and it was on the first night – or rather morning – 4am to be exact.  We get a telephone call which of course Gilbert got nowhere with as it was in Korean.  Then a knock on the door with the receptionist explaining to us how to use the remote control which controls everything in the room – tv, air conditioner, lights.  They were right that we didn’t know the room was remote controlled but it is still a mystery as to how they knew we were ‘in the dark’ on this and why the early morning ‘wake-up’ call to tell us.

SIGHTSEEING

DMZ (the border between North and South Korea)

One of the main tourist attractions in Korea, if you can call it that, is a trip to the DMZ.  In some ways it was like a sobering reality check when you begin to see the barbed wire fencing and army posts all along the river to the DMZ.  As explained to us in a light, but serious fashion by the tour guide – the army’s orders are shoot to kill, questions asked later – so stay with the tour and don’t stray ‘out-of-bounds’.  The DMZ is approximately 4 km wide and filled with land mines so military personnel will follow a well marked path when venturing into the area.  Since the DMZ has been sealed off for about 50 years, it is actually lush and green with an abundance of wildlife.

There are 2 main highlights to the tour.  One is a steep walk going 25 stories underground to see a brief part of the Third Tunnel of Aggression– one of 20, or so, such tunnels that North Korea has tried digging to infiltrate South Korea but to date has been unsuccessful.  I certainly have a better appreciation as to what it must be like to be a miner, going deep under the earth.

The other highlight is visiting the Dorasan Train Station.  This station was built 10 years ago to connect North and South Korea when relations seemed to be on the upswing.  Two test trains ran between the North and South and then North Korea closed the border off again, but not before securing supplies that were delivered to them on the test runs.  So this station is ‘frozen in time’, with security scanners and timetable boards installed and ready to be put into use should relations between the 2 countries ever become amicable.

And one other small mention – on our DMZ tour of about 30 people, there was a couple from West Vancouver who had recently sold their house and moved into an apartment on Bellevue Avenue.  They live about 15-20 minutes from our house – another unbelievable case of ‘it’s a small world’, which by now we should be used to.

Theatre Performance – JUMP

What to do on a rainy, pouring like buckets, non-stop, monsoon day?  The first is to buy umbrellas (which we were forced to do) and the other was to see a theatre performance.  We had heard JUMP was supposed to be good so we went to see that.  This is a Korean, non-verbal performance which mixes martial arts (mainly Taekwondo and Taekkyeon), acrobatics and comedy into a very clever, sometimes hysterical, with perfectly-timed sound affects show of antics.  We loved it and highly recommend seeing it if you ever have the chance.

The War Memorial of Korea

What to do on a very hot, muggy, 100% humidity, feels like 40 degree day?  We decided to spend the afternoon inside an air conditioned museum and chose the War Memorial of Korea.  We were interested in learning more about the recent history of Korea, especially after visiting the DMZ.  Around the outside perimeter of the museum are various monuments and statues as well as an outdoor exhibition area featuring a variety of vehicles and machinery used in combat beginning with the Korean War.  Inside the museum, as the name suggests, is a history of the peninsula’s resistance from foreign aggression, including the Korean War and North Korea’s recent attacks on South Korea.  It is also a tribute to those who have lost their lives during the war.

Seoul Tower

This is a typical tower for enjoying panoramic views of a city.  It is located on top of Namsan, a 262m hill in the city.  Not relishing a hike up the hill in the heat and humidity, we cheated and took the cable car to the top.  Then it was a quick ride up the Seoul Tower for the views of the city.  It was a hazy day so we couldn’t see that far into the distance.  However, we did enjoy all the mileage markers to various cities in the world, including Harbin, Vancouver and Toronto. Outside the entrance to the tower are ‘trees’ covered in locks and what I am guessing are good luck wishes.  Not being too lazy, we walked back down the hill, expecting a path with switchbacks for negotiating the steep decline.  Instead we got steps going straight down so my overworked calf’s are still feeling the brunt of the walk – where is that Indonesian massage when I need it most?

Restaurants

Our first evening we ended up in a local place near the guesthouse, after our search for the recommended place never materialized.  The place was packed so we figured we couldn’t go wrong.  The meal turned out to be so, so.  However, we noticed that people were really putting away the beers.  One couple, as in 2 people, had a mini-keg on their table.  When the guy poured his glass, he barely made a dent in his keg.  At another table, 2 guys were adding soju, a potent vodka-like alcohol to their beers.  Their first two rounds of beer were downed in a flash.  It was then that Gilbert makes a comment that he thinks he had read Koreans like to drink.  Next thing we know, a guy bumps into Gilbert, nearly falling into his lap as he goes to pay his tab– he obviously has had one too many.  It was obviously a hopping night at the local pub.

Our favourite Korean food has been the Korean BBQ of which there are many variations of the same theme.  Most come with a soup and condiments for rice.  The cooked meat is eaten wrapped in lettuce, cabbage, or even mint leaves.  That was surprising to me as we have had the BBQ in China and the meat is eaten plain off the grill.

And what about the usual restaurants with the fish tanks where you choose your own fresh seafood.  I can’t imagine eating these chubby, orange, moving blobs (ok - grossed me out) and steered clear of odd sounding and looking choices on the menus, just to be sure.

Out and About in Seoul

The weekends in Seoul are great for just walking around, not knowing what you might discover down the next alleyway.  A variety of street performances are in abundance as well as local vendors out selling food and their wares.  And the city is alive at night with neon lights – so much for energy conservation.

Amazingly enough, we ran into a group of boys that asked us if they could interview us for their year end school project (déjà vu?).  Of course we agreed, once again, and fortunately passed their difficult test questions about Korea.

There are many store windows displaying the traditional Korean dress that is worn for ceremonies and weddings.  We came across a place where we donned the outfits for a quick photo-op.  We also were entertained at the airport with a brief but traditional Korean musical performance.  A bit twangy for my ears but maybe if I understood the words I'd have a better appreciation of the song.

By chance, we came across the YWCA in Seoul, located near one of the many shopping districts in the city.  We didn’t have time to venture indoors to check out what they offered but I did get a photo for anyone interested.

As with Japan and China, calligraphy is a very celebrated art form.  One particular area has many shops selling the brushes for this and other painting supplies.

Our time in Seoul ended too quickly as we realized we really like the city and wish we had more time to spend there and also other parts of Korea.  I suspect we may be back one day for a longer visit.